The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-04-27
A CLEVER sWINDLER.
How III. ID. Garrett Defrauded Mrs. Char
pentier and the McArdle Heirs.


New York Tribune.l
Henry D. Garrett q young man whose
handsome face and pleasing manners have
caused many persons TO be attracted
toward him, sometimes to their great loss,
did not succeed yesterday in winning the
favor of the jury which heard the evidence
against him in Part of the Court of Gen.
eTal Sessions. As Garrett did not take the
witness stand in bis Own defense, the de-
tails of his past life were not revealed on
the witness stand. Assistant District At
torneY Purdy, who conducted the
prosecution, says, however, that
while Garrett was in the State
Prison he met q relative OF the woman
whom he afterward plundered with so re-
markable ease and thoroughness. He was
introiu Mr.. Purdy says, by this grace
less member of the family as the lawyer
who had been able by his skill and ability
to obtain his release from imprisonment.
Mrs. Rosalie Charpentier is Frenchwoman
who conducts successfully several large
bakeries in different parts of the city. Her
income amounts to several thousand dol
lars year. She had owned the house at
No. 160 West Twenty fourth street, where
she lived, but knew there was a cloud on
the title because former owner had not
conveyed his whole interest. She feared
she might lose her property, and Garrett,
into the good graces of the family, found
his opportunity in this trouble of Mrs.
Charpentier.
Garrett first obtained $50 from Mrs. Char
pentier on the ground that he wished to
search the title to her property. He had
discovered, he said, that the real owners of
the property had not been the persons
from whom the baker (Charpentier) and
his wife had purchased ii, but that the
heirs of one McArdle, who had formerly
owned the property, now had the legal title.
He found out that there was son, William
F., who lived in California, and three
daughters, TWO of whom, at least, lived on
Long Island. He deceived Mrs. Charpen-
tier in various ways until he got over
$1,000. He then prepared for his greatest
haul.
He informed Mrs. Charpentier that Will
lam +. McArdle must be seen, although he
lived in California. He told her that not
only her home, but the adjacent house and
the connecting property in Seventh avenue
belonging TO this McArdle estate were real
ly owned by the McArdle heirs. He said
be would try to get conveyance of the
whole plot to her for very much less than
it was worth, and she would thus become
the owner of this valuable property. He
received $3.50 for the trip to California, and
he brought McArdle back with him. Gar
rett finally told Mrs. Charpentier that he
could obtain conveyance of the whole
property, including that in Seventh ave-
nue., from the McArdle heirs for S15, 000
He told the daughters of the elder McAr-
die that he found that they bad some small
claim to 100 West Twenty-fourth street,
and he proposed that they should
receive $500 each to convey their
rights. They agreed to this. and
also offered to allow him to retain 800 of
each $500 as fee for prosecuting any
claim against the Seventh avenue property.
Garrett then drew up warranty deed by
which, for $4,000, the McArdle heirs con-
veyed absolutely not only No. 160 West
Twenty-fourth street, but No. 162 and the
Seventh avenue property. He received
5000 from Mrs. Charpentier and took the
deed out to East Hinsdale, where the son
and three daughters of the elder McArdle
had assembled. The paper was
The heirs did not look at the
first part of the paper and supposed
they were only signing quitclaim deed to
No. 100. They did not notice that the con-
sideration named was $4,000. Garrett
took each of the sisters apart and paid her
$50, saying that he would send the other
S25 IN few days. Then he carried the
deed to Mrs. Charpentier and she gave him
$4,000 in bills, which she had saved and
kept in a tin box.
He gradually withdrew from his init
macy at the Charpehtier household and
finally married. He was arrested year
ago on the charge Of detrauding a Mrs.
Chambers, and Mrs. Charpentier went on
his bond. She, however, got possession of
her papers and took them to lawyers, who
discovered the fraud and caused CARROTS
arrest.
His trial on the charge of grand larceny
in the first degree has occupied three days.
The principal witnesses for the prosecution
were Mrs. Charpentier and her daughter,
Eugene, to whom Garrett had been en-.
gagged at one time. There was no testi-
mony for the defense. The Jury did not
take much time to deliberate, when Judge
Gildersleeve committed the case to them,
but promptly convicted Garrett. He
may be sentenced to imprisonment for any
term between five and ten years.